Howard Berman: “Mr. Chairman, I am not challenging the constitutionality of the proponent's amendment. I am challenging the wisdom of…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am not challenging the constitutionality of the proponent's amendment. I am challenging the wisdom of the proponent's amendment. If we do this, we are doing something unprecedented with significant adverse budgetary consequences in a fashion that will not distribute the caseload in any sense equally, that is opposed by the judges, that is opposed by the lawyers who practice in this court and, to the extent that it is ideologically motivated, foists on our poor California Republicans a circuit that they think will not serve their interests. So I hate to see this squabble between the Idaho and Montana Republicans and the California Republicans, but the fact is this is why, even though you have the authority to draw these lines, it may not be wise to. I urge opposition to the amendment, and I include for the Record a letter from the highly praised Ninth Circuit judge from Montana opposing the split.”